Stop the war on opera

In their thinly disguised war on traditional opera, our arts leaders seem set on betraying audiences and performers, writes David Lister

Everyone should have access to the enjoyment that opera brings (PA Archive)

Last week in the Commons, MPs debated a subject that rarely rears its head in the Palace of Westminster. They sang the praises of opera.

It feels a world away from strikes and the cost of living crisis. But opera too is in crisis. For some unexplained reason, there is a clear campaign to diminish and quite possibly destroy some of our best-known and best-loved opera companies.

I have already written about the startling and frankly appalling decision by the funding body, Arts Council England, to cease giving money to English National Opera (ENO) unless it leaves London and sets up in some unnamed city, without of course most of its company of singers and musicians (just yesterday it was given a year’s reprieve. But after that the future looks just as uncertain and bleak).